Atweh Jad A, Riggs Sara L
University of Virginia, USA.
Hum Factors. 2025 Mar;67(3):196-224. doi: 10.1177/00187208241272060. Epub 2024 Aug 19.
The goal of this study was to assess how different real-time gaze sharing visualization techniques affect eye tracking metrics, workload, team situation awareness (TSA), and team performance.
Gaze sharing is a real-time visualization technique that allows teams to know where their team members are looking on a shared display. Gaze sharing visualization techniques are a promising means to improve collaborative performance on simple tasks; however, there needs to be validation of gaze sharing with more complex and dynamic tasks.
This study evaluated the effect of gaze sharing on eye tracking metrics, workload, team SA, and team performance in a simulated unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) command-and-control task. Thirty-five teams of two performed UAV tasks under three conditions: one with no gaze sharing and two with gaze sharing. Gaze sharing was presented using a fixation dot (i.e., a translucent colored dot) and a fixation trail (i.e., a trail of the most recent fixations).
The results showed that the fixation trail significantly reduced saccadic activity, lowered workload, supported team SA at all levels, and improved performance compared to no gaze sharing; however, the fixation dot had the opposite effect on performance and SA. In fact, having no gaze sharing outperformed the fixation dot. Participants also preferred the fixation trail for its visibility and ability to track and monitor the history of their partner's gaze.
The results showed that gaze sharing has the potential to support collaboration, but its effectiveness depends highly on the design and context of use.
The findings suggest that gaze sharing visualization techniques, like the fixation trail, have the potential to improve teamwork in complex UAV tasks and could have broader applicability in a variety of collaborative settings.
本研究的目的是评估不同的实时视线共享可视化技术如何影响眼动追踪指标、工作量、团队态势感知（TSA）和团队绩效。
视线共享是一种实时可视化技术，可让团队成员了解其团队成员在共享显示屏上的注视位置。视线共享可视化技术是提高简单任务协作绩效的一种有前景的手段；然而，对于更复杂和动态的任务，仍需要对视线共享进行验证。
本研究在模拟无人机（UAV）指挥与控制任务中，评估了视线共享对眼动追踪指标、工作量、团队态势感知和团队绩效的影响。35个两人团队在三种条件下执行无人机任务：一种是无视线共享，另外两种是有视线共享。视线共享通过注视点（即半透明彩色点）和注视轨迹（即最近注视点的轨迹）呈现。
结果表明，与无视线共享相比，注视轨迹显著减少了扫视活动，降低了工作量，在各个层面上支持了团队态势感知，并提高了绩效；然而，注视点对绩效和态势感知产生了相反的影响。实际上，无视线共享的表现优于注视点。参与者也更喜欢注视轨迹，因为它具有可见性，并且能够追踪和监测其伙伴的注视历史。
结果表明，视线共享有支持协作的潜力，但其有效性高度依赖于设计和使用情境。
研究结果表明，像注视轨迹这样的视线共享可视化技术有潜力改善复杂无人机任务中的团队协作，并且可能在各种协作环境中具有更广泛的适用性。
